The ExFiles: Case Closed
by QuicksilverWitch
Summary: Grace learns a little more about what went on in the alternate timeline and does what any best friend would do, changing things in ways not even the most brilliant Physicist could predict…


**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF EUREKA, ITS CHARACTERS, OR ITS SUBSIDIES. THIS IS PURE IMAGINATION/FAN WRITTEN FICTION.**

**Author's Nook:** My very first Eureka story, inspired by the events of Season Four; it nearly killed me when Zoe said she was "seeing" Zane. And after that kiss in the station in the mid-season finale…whoa. Anyway, hope this is good; I really need to rewatch all the seasons...

Hope you enjoy, and please review! :D

**Summary: ** Grace learns a little more about what went on in the alternate timeline and does what any best friend would do, changing things in ways not even the most brilliant Physicist could predict…

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**The Ex-files: Case Closed**

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Grinning goofily, Grace Deacon skipped into the garage her husband was currently ensconced in, determined to entice him upstairs (or, well, the nearest flat workspace), for some needed quality time. Ever since he'd begun to court her as the New Henry instead of living out the life of Old Henry, she'd gained a new appreciation for her husband she hadn't felt for a long time.

Effusive with happiness is how he first saw her as he moved away from Carter's recently crushed car, his own face splitting into a welcoming smile. Drawing her close, he kissed her soundly on the mouth, looping his arms around her waist in contentment as her own ran themselves gently across his scalp.

"Mmm, you're home, finally. Hey—is that Jack's car?" Looking over his shoulder, she gaped at the crushed frame that Henry had slowly begun repairing.

He sighed. "Oh yes. You have no idea how stressful today has been. First, the bridge out of Eureka collapsed, then Jack's car and a few other items. And if that hadn't been the cake, then the icing was that Jack, Allison, Fargo, and Jo kept hallucinating throughout the entire experience."

Grace frowned. "Really? Who did they see? And why?"

Henry shrugged. "Apparently, each of them had something they were trying to get off their chests, and the visions manifested as representations as those pressures. They disappeared only when everyone acted on those uncertainties."

Fascinated by the experience, Grace asked, "Well, who saw whom?"

"Allison saw Tess, Jack apparently saw Stark, Fargo saw a girl who had bullied him in the fifth grade, and Jo saw Zane."

To Grace, those names made sense, save for one. "Okay, but why would Jo see Zane? I mean, besides convincing the General that he was innocent of the hover disaster, the two of them nearly always go at it like cats and dogs."

Henry began to fidget, holding her a little tighter than normal, leaning his forehead against her own. "Jo…Jo saw Zane, because in the old timeline, they started dating a little after he arrived in Eureka. He…he proposed to her the same day we went back."

Grace gasped, eyes glittering with compassion for her friend. "Oh no…did she say yes?"

"She wanted to," Henry admitted reluctantly.

"What does that mean, 'she wanted to'…oh," eyes widening in understanding she kissed Henry lightly before pulling away from him quickly.

"Hey, where you going?" Henry called after her in confusion.

"To see Jo!" she called over her shoulder, "All this time, and she never said anything, even after I found out about your time travel…the emotional distress she must be in…" she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders as she stalled in the doorway.

Sighing, she looked up at Henry imploringly, "If the same situation, where the man I loved was gallivanting off with another girl, and didn't even remember having a relationship with me, and I was all alone, ever happened to me…I wouldn't want to be alone right now."

Shutting the door behind her and running into the house to grab her purse and keys, Grace headed for the one place she knew her friend would be right now.

* * *

Entering the GD building and heading toward Jo's new office, Grace hesitated, seeing how closed off and tired Jo seemed to be.

"Look, things just don't disappear into thin air. Extend the perimeter and keep looking." Jo's voice echoed irritably from behind the door.

Working up the courage when she saw the defeat and pain flicker as Jo touched the chain at her neck, Grace felt her resolve return stronger than ever.

"Hey Jo…can we talk?"

* * *

Zane was frustrated and confused, to say the least. First, there had been those weird implosions/self-mutilations of the bridge, Carter's car, and other areas, then Carter, Allison, Fargo, and Jo had begun hallucinating, or so Henry had told him.

After being on her "good side" for several months already, he was getting more than a little fed up with her nice mannerisms and sudden belief in his moral integrity as a person.

Approaching her office in ground eating strides, he stopped when he heard Grace's voice through Jo's partially closed office door.

_"Jo…oh God, Jo, I…I'm so sorry I never asked. I was so caught up with rebuilding my relationship with Henry—"_

Zane's eyebrows rose in surprise. Henry and Grace had been on the rocks? But they'd been making goo goo eyes for, well, eons even after their wedding! It had almost been sickening…

_"And what with Allison and Jack getting together…I just wanted to say, I know about you and Zane."_

Whoa. Rewind. Him and JO? There had _never_ been a "Zane and Jo" relationship past her tasering him for some "nefarious incident". Except, there had been that one time after he'd first come to Eureka…but she'd said no to the date…

_"…you do?"_

_ "Yeah. Henry said in the previous timeline, you two had dated, and then the day all of you…went back…he'd…proposed."_

_ "…oh."_

Peering through the inch of glass between the doorframe and the door, Zane couldn't believe what he was hearing, until he saw the look on Jo's face, especially the way it crumbled, when she removed the chain she'd been wearing since her weird speech episode.

He nearly fell over when she gently cradled his grandmother's engagement ring, fingers smoothing over the diamond setting.

_"Grace…he…"_ his heart clenched when he saw how heartbroken Jo looked.

_"He proposed at the station…" _a watery laugh,_ "put the damn ring in the same brand name lingerie bag from the first time we met, too…and he knelt and said it, and I was so stunned, and so happy…and when I froze for too long, he just…stormed out before I could say yes…"_

Grace was hugging Jo now, who shut her eyes painfully and hugged her friend back.

_"And now he and Zoe are together…I…I want this heartbreak to stop, God, why won't it stop?"_

Low sobs took his breath away as he kept hearing more than he wanted to; it almost felt as if each new piece of information was a bullet to the chest.

_Bam. _Jo was from an alternate timeline.

_Bam._ They'd been together.

_Bam._ She'd _loved him. _A lot, apparently, for her to get so worked up.

_Bam._ He'd proposed.

Fuck.

"_Was he who you saw during your hallucinations?"_

"_Yeah…he was a manifestation of my regret and longings, according to Henry and Jack. I just…I just missed him so much. Seeing him with Zoe a few weeks ago with the concrete incident…just brought back so much…too much."_

He began to walk away, running a hand through his thick black hair. He couldn't face her right now, not like this.

"_But I can't deal with this right now; apparently the DED_ _was stolen, and with other things happening. I just want to forget, for Christ's sake!"_

Walking back the way he came, Zane felt his thoughts race, the envelope he'd been about to give her clenched in his fists.

Too preoccupied with the new information, he jumped back when he ran into Carter, whose face was a grim mask of seriousness.

"Zane, you're going to have to come with me."

_Shit._

* * *

_**The Next Day…**_

He'd had all night and the majority of the day to think about how he would ask her about what he'd seen and heard.

At first, he'd been more than a little shocked, and extremely angry.

Shocked that none of his five supposed buddies hadn't said anything, shocked that one of the biggest stars of his fantasies had, in another life, said yes to his repeated offers for dates, and angry, that she seemed to be forcing him into her Zane's, (what a conundrum _that _thought had been) shoes, what with all her talk about him being a better guy that he acted.

Then he'd thought about it, and decided she really _hadn't_ been forcing him, not really. After last night, he'd realized she'd _seen_ him become a better man, and truly believed he could do better for himself than he was.

It was a heady, and slightly scary, feeling, for one of his biggest antagonizers to have so much faith in him.

And to find out they'd been dating, if not on the brink of marriage?

He was attracted to her, and how! But enough to actually _marry_ her? To be chained to her _till death do they part?_

Zane wasn't sure about that part…but being in an exclusive relationship…now _that _didn't sound so bad.

And when he compared how he felt for Zoe versus Jo?

When he'd spoken to the younger woman last night, he'd explained what he'd heard to her, sidestepping his and Jo's apparent engagement, only hinting they'd been close.

Zoe had been a three parts heartbroken, horrified, and jealous.

But she'd agreed seeing each other in the future would be awkward.

By the time Jo walked in later on and told Deputy Andy to release him, he stared at her solemnly, and made a decision.

"Hey Jo…wait up a minute," he demanded as she power walked toward the front door. Turning around, she stopped, arms crossed over her chest, throwing him an exasperated look.

"What, Zane?" she queried softly. He held back a shiver as her voice seemed to caress his name.

"I know something's happened with the five of you…and that it had to do with us."

Jo felt her stomach lurch and horror begin to dawn. Girding her loins, she shook her head in faked exasperation.

"Zane, let it go; Grant's been cleared," a shake of her head made him impatient, "and so have you."

He shook his head. "I'm not talking about Grant. Look, I was there last night when you were talking with Grace. You had my grandmother's engagement ring, Jo. Come on," he gestured toward her, "tell me what we were to each other."

_God how he wanted to hear her say it, to confirm he was making the right decision._

She swallowed and looked down for a minute, before smiling tightly at him.

"Nothing."

Irritated she wasn't seeing eye to eye with him, Zane acted quickly, tongue darting out to wet his lips before he took the plunge.

_Here goes nothing._

Turning to walk away, Jo was startled to feel herself pulled backward by a demanding grip and into bliss.

Arm winding around her waist to pull her against him, Zane closed his eyes in bliss at the sensation. _What a kisser, my Jo-Jo…_

For a few seconds, he was startled as, despite what he knew, he felt a jolt of familiarity run through him when Jo responded to him during that same moment. _Oh sweet…_

Keeping an arm around her and leaning his forehead against her, he eyed her seriously. "Now, why do you suppose that didn't feel like a first kiss?"

Trembling as he refused to let her go, Jo refused to look at him, even when his right arm gripped her tighter, his left gripping her chin gently to turn her eyes on him.

"The jig is up, Jo-Jo," he murmured, feeling triumphant at the reaction he'd elicited from her.

"Zane—"

"Oh no, you don't," he shook his head, grip firm as she struggled against him, nearly succeeding in pushing him away before he pulled her back in again.

"I've had nearly twenty-four hours to think about this, Jo-Jo, and the Grand Jury has reached its verdict. I've been waiting to do that for over a year now, ever since you turned me down for that date the same week I arrived here."

Jo froze. "You…what?"

Zane snorted, "You heard me, and I won't say it twice. What, you thought Zoe and I were serious? I helped her out on a project and we were just starting a warm up. Compared to what I already felt for you, however…" he looked at her intently.

"After what I heard last night, you think I'm going to let this chance slip away?"

Pursing her lips in distress, Jo worked up the strength to push herself away, turning away from him and heading for the door.

"So you've decided, huh? That I'm the bigger prize and we'll just, what, go off together into the sunset like everything's okay?" she demanded, fury underlying her words.

"Ugh, no, Jo—and hey, pot calling the kettle black! You almost had me filling my old self's shoes, remember? With your talk about me being better than I was? Can you claim you weren't trying to turn me into him—me—whatever," he argued back, following her to the door and disgruntled that his plan was rapidly unraveling.

"So not true! You just refused to believe someone could think more of you than that—"

"But you did," he said firmly, a strange glint in his eyes as he latched on to her arm again, "you _know_ me. And, that's my point; I want to know you too, Josephina. Have since I first ordered you all that lingerie when I first came here."

Seeing her face darken in anger and sensing another protest coming on, he snagged her around the waist and pulled her close again.

"You've been channeling all kinds of crazy mojo since Founder's Day, Jo-Jo, and I was really freaked out when you came in all glowy and said yes to something I hadn't even asked you," he said calmly. _Eventually,_ now that he thought about it.

Jo tried to jerk away, only to meet the wall beside the exit when she leaned away. Damn; he'd backed her into a corner, and she hadn't even sensed it when usually, she would. He was always throwing her off that way…and it was _so_ tempting to give in…

"What's your point Zane?" she sighed, brown eyes boring into his all too interesting gaze, which had lowered heatedly as he smirked.

"I _want_ that glowy Josephina Lupo," he whispered, leaning closer, "Suddenly, all these questions are buzzing around my head—what was I like, to make you glow so much? What were we like together, that you just couldn't stay away and rushed back to see me? What were you like that I decided to give you my grandmother's engagement ring?"

"Zane, I…" Jo felt her eyes water, "I want to so much, _you have no idea_, but do you honestly even _like_ me, or are you feeling obligated because you feel it's the right thing to do?"

Snorting, Zane rolled his eyes and pressed his entire body against hers, making her shudder.

"You can bet your ass I do, Josephina."

He felt so clichéd sealing his words with a kiss, but as Jo-Jo responded to him, he shuddered with the familiarity, as if a long time ago, he had welcomed this, had craved it more than he craved recognition for his brilliance, more than a good fling.

Suddenly, his earlier anxieties about marriage seemed ridiculous.

_Baby steps,_ he thought as they both came up for some air, only for Jo to start round two.

_One before the other; and we'll be running before we know it…_


End file.
